Jan 2, 2010

The White Devil | John Webster’s Depiction of Court Life in Renaissance Italy

Guyette, a longtime journalist, received a bachelor’s degree in English writing from the University of Pittsburgh. In this essay, Guyette describes how John Webster’s depiction of court life in Renaissance Italy can be viewed as a cautionary tale that still has relevance today.

The White Devil is based on a true story that occurred about 30 years prior to the writing of this Elizabethan drama circa 1612. As Matthew Gurewitsch wrote in a story about the play for the New York Times

The core of historical truth was this: in 1585 in Italy— that proverbial sink of sensational depravity—the Duke of Bracciano had conceived a passion for one Vittoria Accramboni, who succumbed only after Bracciano had arranged the murders first of his own wife, then of Vittoria’s husband. In the black-magic lantern of Webster’s imagination, it...